Clock-operated control device



H. WILCOX'. CLOCK OPERATED CONTROL DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED AUG-2|,1916.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l v WITNESS H. WlLCOX.

CLOCK 0PERATED CONTROL DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.2I, 19l6.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fig. 6.

WITNESS INVENTOR. M Q I M7171; I: Y.

UN T D sT TEs PATENT oF Io 1, I

a VHENRY WILoox, or NEWARK, NEW JEnsnY, AssreNoR TOJFRANK iamnson, or

, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY. p

i, CLOCK-OPERATED CONTROL DEVICE.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY WILoox, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State ofNewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clock-Operated Control Devices, of which the following is a specification;

The objects of this invention are to pro vide an improved device adaptedto be con trolled by a clock for operating suitable mechanismto effecta'desired result at a given time; to secure simplicity, ease ofmanipulation and freedom from Wear and getting out of order to enablethe device to be readily set for any given time; to provide anadjustment whereby the clock maybe caused to operate the drafts atsubstantially the time for which it is set; to

minimize the strainon the clock Works; to

particularly adapt the device to opening the drafts ofa furnace; toenable the deviceto be applied to furnaces in different ways, and thus,adapted to various-"kinds of furnaces; to provide improved means forholding the fire-pot door open; to readily 'remove'said means when theclock releases the other 1 drafts ofthe furnace; to this end to obtainalong leverage upon saidv door-holding means; to operate'said meanswithout any additionalstrain on the'clock works and to obtain otheradvantages and results as may be brought out in the followingdescription. Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which likenumerals of reference indicate the same, parts throughout the severalviews, V Figure 1 is a plan of the clockcontrolled tripping mechanisms;4 I 1 Fig. 2 is a side viewof the same Fig. 3 is a centralvertical'section of the same ' Fig. 4 is a side view of a furnaceshowing my improved control device in connection therewith; .1 I

.Fig. 5 is awfront view of the furnace 'shownin- Fig. 1- with the, chaincontrolling the chimney draft broken away in part, and Fig. 6'is aperspective view of the firepot door holding means.- I t Inthe specificembodimentl'of the invention illustrated said drawings the referencenumeral 1 indicates a casing adapted to .incloser and support clockworks of Specification of Letters Ifatent. Patented 313 15 16, 1920,Application filed August 21, 1916. Serial No 115,954.

suitable construction; said casing being provided with an open front toexpose'the'face of the clock and'said front having a door 3 for closingthe same to exclude dust and dirt. At the bottom and back of the cas-1ng 1s secured a bracket 4 which extends rearwardly and then upwardlyinspaced relation to theback of the casing. Also at the bottom of thecasing and depending a,

post and secure the said clamping means at whatever position to whichitis turned upon the post. Below the socketed upper end depend a pluralityof ears' 8- which are separated so as to take over a suitable supportsuch as a damper bar of a furnace; and a clamping screw 9 through one ofthese ears is adapted to firmly secure the clamping .ieans uponsaidflbar. Obviously, in this manner, the clamping means may be securedat any desired position upon the damper bar and the clock casing'maybeturned to any'position upon the'clamping means de sired.

the shaft 11 andfca'rrying at, its front end the hour hand 20; It willbe understood that the relation ofthe various gears and mechanismsaresuch that thehour hand 20 will be. given but one revolution to twelverevolutions of theminute hand as is usual in clocks. -V' I Also inmesh-With the pinion 15 is another gear wheel 21 corresponding indiameter to the gear-wheel 18 upon the hour-hand supporting-sleeve 19;so that both said" gear wheels will make exactly the same number ofrevolutions in a' given time. This last frame of the clock works.

described gear wheel'il is upon the front endofa shaft 22 which projectsrearwardly through the frame 17 of the clock works and through a" sleeve'23 which is fast with re spect to and extends rearwardly from the p Theouter side of this sleeve provides an exterior cylindrical bearing forpurposes hereinafter described, and terminates at its outer or free endin a radial flange 24. The'shait't 22 projects beyond the sleeve 23, andupon this projecting end is a cam 25, which obviously will be rotatedonce for each revolution of the hour hand.

Rotatah'ly mounted upon the exterior bearing portion of the sleeve 23between the radial flange 2% and the "frame of the clock works is aplate :26 prevented from displacement by means of the said flange. Thisplate may be manually rotated to any position desired, and to hold it insuch position a pin 27 provided at the top of the casing adapted to "heinserted in any one of the plurality of holes 28 arranged in an annularseries in the face otsaid plate. Preferably the plate is provided withat least twelve holes 28 evenly spaced and representing the 5 twelvehours into which the clock face is usually divided. As many intermediateholes to represent the half or quarter hours and so forth may beprovided between each two of these twelve holes as desired, andpreferably raised figures from one to twelve are integrally formed onthe front 02E said plate adjacentfthe twelve holes in consecutive order;When the pin 27 is inserted in any one hole it holds the plate 26against rotatingand indicates the time at which the device will operate.

In practice, in order to cause the mechanisms to trip at the exact timeindicated by the pin in one of the holes, an adjustment isnecessarybetween positions of the plate and the cam above mentioned. Flhis adjustment,

is perhaps most readily made l y shifting the position of the pin"cirouinierentially ot the clock easing. In carrying out this fea-'tureol my invention the pin is carried in a bracket 29 which 1s adpistable oirc'uinffen entially of the casing and may be clamped in itsadjusted position. This bracket coin-- prises 'a foot poition30 having aslot '31 extending oi reum'fereii'ti all 'y the clock casing, an d h avin also a pair of irpw ardly extending lugs 32 on opposite sides of theslot 'silitably recessed to slidahly receive the pin 2'7 in a directiontransverse to the slot and substantially perpendicular to the settingplate.

Screws 33 extending through the slot 31 into a I I 1 the casing may heloosened to shift the bracket and tightened to retam the bracket in itsshifted or adjusted position. Obvi ously, by this means, the hracketmaybe 7 moved with the pin in one way or the other astound necessary ordesirable.

Upon the back or the plate 26 is a cam lever 34 which extendsdiametrically of the platepast its center and is hingedat one end, as byears 35, 35, to swing in a plane perpendicular to the plate. This camlever is so formed that the cam-25 will lie beneath the san'l'e androtate without swinging the lever except at desired intervals. ln thespecific arrangement shown, the cam is disk shaped providing a flatsurface against which the free end of the cam lever may engage. At oneradial part of the dish a raised portion is provided over which the freeend of the cam lever must ride as the cam is retated, thus causing thelever to swing away from the plate. Obviously, by turning the plate 26the cam lever carried upon it will be brought into diflerentpositions,so that it will be engaged by the cairn sooner or later, andby arranging the numbered holes 28 around the inarginof the plate inproper relation, the cam lever 3% can be brought into proper position to.be swung at a'given hour or half hour by setting the plate 26 with thepin 27 in the hole corres iiondiug "to said hour 'or half hour.

As positioned for "illustrative purposes, the clock indicates abouttwelve oclook, that is midday or midnight, and the plate 26 is set withthe pin 27 in the hole marked with six, indicating tliemeehanism willoperate at six 'ocloc k. 4 i cam at this time (12 oelock) extendsstraight down, and for the setting of the plate (6 oclock) the cam leverstands straight up and down with the free end up. As the clock continuesto run, the cam is ro'tated'a'nd as the hour of six is approached the"radially pro ecting side of the :cam a ppreaches an upward position andengages the upper end of the cam lever which is.

swung to its maximum amplitude as the clock indicates the hour er six,after which the earn passes and allows the lever to resiuneits normalposition. Obviously with the plate set for another time than six de le3k the same operation would occur at that time instead of at six oelock.

Of course the cam lever 31 could by its iv-ringing movement operat anysuitable kind or member, but I have shown it operating a trip lever 36"stai'i'di'i'ig substaiit'ially upright and preferably fulerumed to"swing in a vertical ihtne perpeiidieirlar to the plate 26. This leveris 'slloivn carried by the in i right portionof the bracket -land he lnor madly in engagement by a helical spring 3? with thecam lever 3st at'a' point opposite the end of the shaftflil, so as to be operatedthereby regardless "of what position the plate 26 is turned to.Thelowerend at this trip lever 36' has a ydownwardly facing sh'oulden38adapted to take over a shoulder 39 of a releasrn lever a0 pivotedhorizontally to the brac et l opposite, the lower end of the releasinglever andadapted to hold at its other end something to be released atthe given time, said trip lever-V thus preventing the end ofthereleasing lever which underlies said shoulder from swinging upwarduntil-the shoulder is disengaged.

It will, be noted thatthe bracket 4 is of channeled construction, with.opposite substantially parallel side portions, and that the releasinglever is pivoted between said side portions so that one arm projectswhilethe other arm lies between the side portionsof the bracket and isprotected or guarded thereby. Furthermore, the bracket and its sideportions continue upward and the trip lever 36 and its spring 37 are inclosed between said side port-ions. This insures that in hooking a chainover the releas ing lever 40, as hereinafterdescribed, it will not bewrongly done, even in the dark- It should also be noted that theshoulder 31) has curved guide portions 64, 65 on the inner rounded endof the releasing lever extending oppositely from its opposite ends,which serve to guide the trip lever intoengagement with said shoulder.That is. to say, when the releasing lever hangs downward it isnecessaryonly to pushits outer end up ward causing the lower guide-edge 64 toride over the end of the trip lever until the shoulder 39 is reached;and if the releasing. lever should be thrown uptoo far, the trip leverwill merely engage the upper guide edge '65 and beguided to the shoulder39 as the lever drops back into proper position.

Oneuse to which my'clook-operated control device is well adapted istheopeningof furnace drafts at the desired hour in the morning to warm thehouse, and I have shown it applied to such use in Figsj4 and In saidfigures, the reference numeral 41 indicates a furnace having a damperbar 42 pivoted as at 43 with a weight 44 tending to normally swing thebar so thatone end, in this disclosure the rear end, is down damper 47may beraised or opened and the front damper 48' lowered or shut as theweighted end of the bar raised and vice versa, as is common. I haveshown my control device :in Figs. 4 and 5 mounted upon the opposite end'of', the bar 42 from the wveiglit 44, or front end of said bar, and

holding the same downward by a chain 49, extending from a lower fixedpipe or-the like to the end of thei'eleasing lever which is opposite oraway from the: trip lever 36.

Obviously, when the cam 25 swings the cam lever 34 to disengage the triplever 36 the releasing lever 40 lets the. chain 49 slipofl', and theweight -44tipsthe bar 2 and operates thefurnace drafts to start up.thefire.

As a' feature of the present inventionl from thexlcft, the T-heac 55 ispreferably on the other; side of the shank.

provide a door prop 50 which, while it is desired to damper the fire offis arranged we to hold thefire-pot door 51 open but which will beremoved automatically as the damper bar swings to open the other,drafts. This door prop consists preferablyof anintegral piece of wire orthe like bent into the desired shape as illustrated more particuwhich isa loop 53 by means of which a ment'against the inside of the door whilethe T-head rests upon the top of the door and abuts at one end the frontof the furnaceobvlously preventlng the door from closing. For removingthe prop the looped end of the shank is drawn upwardly which causes theprop to swing on the T-head as 'a fulcrum thus drawing the retainingportion 56 upward andremoving it from behind the door which may thusclose, it being observed that the long leverage obtained by the greaterlength of the shank permit- 7 ting this to be done withouttheapplication of a great deal of force. I In order that the propmay beused upon doors opening both from the right and made to project,substantially as far one side of the shank as it does the other side,

and for ease in manufacture this is obtained by bending the'wiretransversely to both the shank and retaining portion 56 as at 57 forthedesired length offloneside of the, T head, and'then returning the wirebackwardly upon itself and extending it as far Obviously on one side ofthe shank there will-be two strands ofthe wire formingthe T -head,v

and by'separating these somewhat, "as

shown, a two point engagement willbe obtained upon the top of the doorwhen'this side of theprop extends forwardly, and for obtaining a two"point engagement with the door when the other end of the T-head projectsforwardly, the shank may be bent laterally in a plane of the T-head asat'58.

providing a rest separated from the T-head. V

Preferably this rest is adjacent the retaining portion 56 and upon theopposite side thereof from the T-head, although it might be otherwise ifdesired.

Itwill be understood, in operation, that larly in Fig. 6. Described indetail, it com 'prise'sa shank portion 52' at oneend of -ohainor otherflexible member 54 may connect it to the damper bar. At its other endthe prop is positioned horizontally at' the top of the door with itsretaining portion 56 holding the door open against thetendency of aspring '59 to close it. For illustrative purposes a hook 60 is shown onone end of the spring engaging the knob 61 of the door, and a chain 62is shown at the other end of the spring secured to a fixed part of thefurnace such as the pipe 63. The loop 53 of the prop is connected by thechain 54 to the front end of the damper bar 42, or end which rises whenthe clock-operated means releases it. Thus, the upward movement of thebar i2 will swing the prop upwardly and remove the retaining portion 56from behind the door at which time the spring 59 will draw the doorclosed. Pret Gbviously' various modifications and changes may be made inthe manufacture of my improved 'cilock operated control device, withoutdeparting "from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish'to be understood as limiting myself except as required 'by thefollowing claims when construed in the light of the prior art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

' 1. In aclock operated control device, the combination of a rotary'eam,clock means for turning said cam, a setting plate adapted 'to turn onsubstantially the same axial line as said cam, upon a stationary hubindependent of the rotation of the cam, means for holding said settingplate from turning, and a cam lever on said setting plate adapted to beswung by said cam.- V

2. In aclock operatedcontrol device, the combination of a rotary cam,clock means for turningsaid cam, a rotary plate concentric with said camfor setting the device to act at a given time, a cam leveron saidsetting plate adapted to be engaged and swung hysaid cam, a trip leverone end of which is always in engagement with said cam lever, andnieansadapted to be released "by said trip lever.

3. In a clock operated control device, the combination of a rotary cam,clock 'inea ns forturning saidfcam, a rotary (plate concentric with saidcam for setting the device to act at a given time, acain lever on saidset ting rplate adapted to be engaged and swung by said cam, a triplever one end of which is always in engagementwith said cam lever, and areleasing lever adapted to he engaged by the trip'lever and releasedwhen the cam lever is swung by the cam.

4:. In a clock operated control device, the combination with a casing, arotary'cam,

clock means contained within said casing for rotating said cam, a rotaryplate concentric with said cam for setting the device to act at a giventime, a cam lever on said plate adapted to be e igaged and swung by saidcam, a bracket fixed to said casing and extending adjacent said camlever, and means supported by said bracket adapted to be operated bysaid cam lever.

5. In a clock operated-control device, the combination of a rotary cam,clock means for turning said earn, a rotary plate for setting the deviceto act at a given time, a setting pin for holding the plate set at anydesired time, a bracket for mounting said pin, said bracket beingadjustable in a direction transverse to the length of thepin, and meansfor holding the bracket in ad jnsted position.

6. In a clock operated control device, the combination of a rotaryca-1n, clock means for turning said earn, a rotary plate for setting thedevice to act at a given time, a setting pin for holding the plate setat any desired time, an adjustable bracket providing bearings forsaidpin and having a slot transverse to the pin, and a screw in said slotfor holding the bracket in adjnsted position.

7 In a clock operated control device, the

' combination of a rotary cam, clock means for turning said cam, arotary plate for setting the device to act at a given time, a settingpin for holding the plate set at any desired time, a bracket having aslot transverse to the pin, and a pairofspaced-screws in said slot forretaining said pin substantially perpendicular to the plate a lltimesand for clamping the bracket in adjusted position.

8. In a clock operated control device, the

combination with means for mounting the same, and 'a fixed bracketthereon with spaced side portions, wot a releasing lever pivoted onsaldbraeket with one arm pro- "ectin therefrom and the other arm. be-

tween "said side portions, a trip lever for holdlng said releasinglever, and means for tripping said trip lever at predetermined times.

9. In a clockboperated control device, the

combination with means for mounting the same, and a fixed bracketthereon with spaced side portions,i'of a releasing lever pivoted 011said bracket with one arm proj'ecting therefrom and the other arm between said side portions, a spring-con trolled trip lever for saidreleasing lever also between the side portions of the bracket, and meansfor tripping saidt'rip lever at predetermined times.

10. In a clock operated control device, the combination of a releasinglever having a supporting arm and an engaging shoulder with curved:guide edges extending in opposite directions from'the opposite ends ofsaid i In testimony whereof I have signed this shoulder, aspring-controlled trip lever for specification in the presence of twosubengaging said shoulder, both said guard scribing Witnesses. 7surfaces being adapted toguide the trip HENRY WILCOX. 5 lever intoengagement with said shoulder, Witnesses: r

and means for tripping said trip lever at HOWARD P. KING,

predetermined times. MILDRED E. BROOKS.

